THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996                  TAG: 9604070258
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

BEACH MAN KILLED AS HE ANSWERS KNOCK AT HIS DOOR POLICE: VICTIM KNEW AT LEAST SOME OF THE FOUR SUSPECTS.

Frederick Infante Jr. answered his front door before dawn Saturday and someone looking for drugs and money shot him, police say.

He stumbled into the front yard and lived long enough to talk to the first police officers sent to house. Then, he died at Virginia Beach General Hospital.

Police said the crime was supposed to be a home-invasion robbery but it fell apart after the shooting. Four suspects, including a 16-year-old girl, managed to grab some compact discs but dropped most of them in the street.

By nightfall, police had all four suspects in custody. Police spokesman Lou Thurston said Infante apparently knew at least some of the suspects, as did the two other residents living at the two-story home in the 4900 block of Hillswick Drive.

Police identified them as:

Nathan N. Owens, 21, of Georgia.

Keith D. Jackson, 21, also of Georgia.

Micah T. Smith, 26, of the 900 block of Barberton Court.

A 16-year-old Virginia Beach girl whose name was not released.

All were charged with murder, conspiracy and using a gun in a crime. Owens was charged with capital murder.

The four suspects apparently knocked on the front door around 3 a.m. and, when it opened, they barged inside. Seconds later, 29-year-old ``Freddy'' Infante was shot in the upper body several times.

Thurston stressed the home wasn't randomly targeted. The suspects wanted drugs and money and believed they would find them there, he said.

Neighbors said they suspected the home was sometimes used for drug transactions because people visited at all hours.

A narcotics sergeant and detective sent to the crime scene put several items from the house into brown paper bags. They put the bags and a confiscated bolt-action rifle in the trunk of an unmarked police car.

Rio Thomas, a friend of the victim's, said Infante had moved here from New York about six years ago. Thomas said he thought Infante last worked as a cook for a local restaurant.

Thomas said he didn't know about any drug connection.

KEYWORDS: SHOOTING MURDER ARREST by CNB